D for Democrat. Or dodge.

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According to Patches O’Houlihan, the legendary coach featured in the film “Dodgeball,” winning required mastery of the game’s five d’s: “dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.” Today, that silly catchphrase for an even sillier movie has become the operating manual for congressional Democrats campaigning for re-election. As they weave through the minefield of President Obama’s policy blunders, they’ve avoided discussing the substance of a host of important issues. One can’t help but be impressed by their dexterity in deploying a few d’s of their own.

For those in tough campaign fights, papering over systemic failures of the VA bureaucracy was never an option. Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor called the revelations “inexcusable,” but refused to call for Shinseki’s resignation. As a member of the committee responsible for overseeing the VA system, Pryor’s exposure on the issue is particularly high. His colleagues were much quicker to throw the secretary overboard. Democratic senators in Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, and North Carolina all called for Shinseki to go. He has, but the scandal continues to widen: last week, investigators found similar fraud at VA hospitals in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana.

Deflect. The Keystone pipeline presents a different problem altogether. Many Democrats running for re-election have repeatedly assured voters that they support American energy independence and an “all-of-the-above” strategy. By repeatedly delaying a decision on the pipeline, however, Obama puts them all in a tough position.

Some, like Senator Mark Begich of Alaska and Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, have already fled to the other side, endorsing the pipeline over a year ago. But in New Hampshire and Colorado, Jeanne Shaheen and Mark Udall have refused to take a firm position on the pipeline at all. Their fallback has been to punt to the administration and defend the agonizingly slow decision process instead. As a general rule in politics, if you’re taking about “the process,” you’re losing.

Every member of Congress is pleased that the former captive is safe. Big questions remain, however, as to how and why he abandoned his post. Most important, an exchange like this should be evaluated for the potential risk to other Americans that will result from the release of what GOP Senator Lindsey Graham termed the “Taliban dream team.” That’s a trade-off that no Democrat wants to discuss. Instead of the cheers he expected, Obama has drawn skepticism from both sides.

Campaigning for office at any level is never easy. For Democrats in 2014, the unpopularity of Obamacare and a weak economy already presented a challenge. This latest series of missteps, however, was entirely avoidable. Intentionally or not, Obama is lobbing salvos at his own troops. They, in turn, are left to dodge the friendly fire. If they had been trained by a star like Patches O’Houlihan, they’d be faring better. At the moment, it looks more like the free-for-all of a third-grade gym class.